Cardinal Felipe Arizmendi, Bishop Emeritus of San Cristóbal de Las Casas and responsible for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Mexican Episcopal Conference (CEM), offers Exaudi readers his weekly article.

FACTS

As bishops in Chiapas, along with the other bishops of that state, we would occasionally request an audience with the governor, not to ask for favors or personal privileges, but to share our concerns about certain situations in our communities. We bishops of the State of Mexico, where I now reside as bishop emeritus, continue to do the same. We ask to speak with the authorities to share our concerns, for example, about the insecurity and violence suffered in many parts of the region, the presence and actions of armed groups that extort money from everyone for everything, the excessive and illegal logging of our forests, and other issues. Sometimes they don’t listen to us because these situations are beyond their control or because they don’t grasp the gravity of the matter. Our pastoral duty is to do all we can for the dignified and just lives of our people. We cannot remain in our comfort zone while the people suffer and feel unprotected.

Years ago, at a dinner several bishops and I had at Los Pinos with then-President Ernesto Zedillo, just after he announced on television that the problems of rural areas in our country had been solved, we pointed out to him that this wasn’t true. We presented him with several situations faced by farmers that contradicted his statement. His aides, in order to save face, feed him manipulated information that doesn’t reflect reality.

A few months ago, in a conversation with a high-ranking official at the Ministry of the Interior, I told her that when we present the country’s problems, we don’t do so as if we were enemies of the government, but rather as collaborators in the effort to achieve justice and peace for all. She was surprised that I said this, because they have the impression that we speak as if we were their systematic enemies. That’s not the case. We present what’s happening in the country, not with the intention of waging a partisan campaign against them, but to contribute our perspective to solving the problems.

LIGHTNING

At the recent assembly of Mexican bishops, we unanimously expressed, among other things, the following:

Under the prompting of the Holy Spirit, we want to share our word and our feelings with you.

As pastors who walk with you, who listen to your pain, who share your hopes, and who, united in Christ, seek to be instruments of comfort and prophecy.

In addressing you, we do so with the hearts of shepherds who recognize in each of you the face of Christ. We know that you carry in your hearts the weight of daily life, with its joys and challenges, its light and shadows. We want you to know that we walk with you, that we are the people with the people, that, as shepherds, we are also sheep of the flock of the one Shepherd, Jesus Christ. We humbly acknowledge that at times we have not accompanied you as is our duty, and for this we ask forgiveness of God and of you.

Inspired by the teachings of Pope Leo XIV, we seek to discern together the path that the Lord expects of us at this moment in the history of Mexico and the Church.

As pastors, we have a duty to speak clearly about the reality of our country. We do not do so from a political or partisan position, but from the responsibility entrusted to us as servants of the Gospel. We cannot be indifferent to the suffering of our people. We cannot remain neutral when human dignity is at stake. Our mission to proclaim the Gospel requires us to proclaim the truth with love.

In these times, we observe with concern how some public discourses construct a narrative that does not correspond to the daily experience of millions of Mexicans. We are told that violence has decreased; but many families who have lost loved ones, or entire communities living in constant fear, experience a different reality. We are told that corruption is being combated; but in the face of serious and scandalous cases, there is no perceived will to clarify them, and impunity prevails. We are told that the economy is doing well; but many families who cannot afford necessities and many young people who cannot find job opportunities show us that this is not true. We are told that freedoms are respected; but those who express critical opinions are discredited and singled out from the highest platforms of power. We are told that we are the most democratic country in the world; but the reality is that we have seen how the organizations and institutions that guaranteed genuine citizen participation have been compromised in order to arbitrarily concentrate power.

ACTIONS

Before civil or religious authorities, let us not be flatterers and applauders for everything, but generous and courageous collaborators, so that we can help to have a fair vision of the reality that is lived and propose paths of solution for the good of the community.